Book recomendation

[Alamo]

If you haven't already, I can strongly recomend the book "The most dangerous enemy" by Stephen Bungay.
The book gives a very good, and easy to understand review of the BoB from both sides. How things happened, and why things went the way they did.
So if you have the chance, pick it up and read it on a rainy day.


(when is WoV II coming out????? )

[jmazzo]

Good idea!

I really appreciated Len Deighton's Fighter. Written like a novel. Including an interesting introduction on weapons, men and air forces.

Awesome!

[RichardIII]

I, too recommend this book. As Battle of Britain accounts go, it is written failrly recently and VERY well researched. I would say it's definitely more a reference book than a novel. It is definitely not a riveting read , but has lots and lots of "facts". Must have for any serious BoB buff.

Rich

[Bottle]

Bungay's book is so far definitely the best I've read about the BoB. Really it's an academic text that's been very professionally researched. Great for dispelling a lot of myths. For instance, I hadn't realised before just how parlous a state the LW was in WRT aircraft production. With the Nazi party's level of incompetence and in-fighting, their ultimate loss was inevitable virtually from the start.

[Point-man]

I haven't read that one but I will certainly look for it. Another really good book in my opinion was "spitfires, thunderbolts, and warm beer" you can find it on amazon for $10 bucks or so. I couldn't put the thing down...

[Osram]

Speaking of reference books, if you want stuff like lists of pilots, planes, missions, airfields etc, then "BoB Then and Now" is very good. However, it is an expensive, BIG volume.

[Ragnar]

I haven't read that one but I will certainly look for it. Another really good book in my opinion was "spitfires, thunderbolts, and warm beer" you can find it on amazon for $10 bucks or so. I couldn't put the thing down...

Found this title at my local Library and passed it up til a later visit,maybe Ishould pay it another visit ......ya think

[CWOJackson]

Another interesting read that was just released:

Dumb But Lucky! Confessions of a P-51 Fighter Pilot in World War II

The author, Richard K. Curtis, never did make an aerial kill. The story is more about a pimply faced kid who survives flight training, becomes a fighter pilot and is assigned to a base in Italy. His unit does some bomber escort but was originally designated for ground attack (the early dive bombers but transitioned to the P-51D) and continued in that mission.

I had some doubts at first but ended up enjoying it...and wondering the same thing the author did...how did he survive.

[JeffW]

The Royal Air Force 1939-1945 (The Official History)
by Denis Richards and Hilary Saunders is a very good resource.

This work is in 3 volumes. Obviously, more than the Battle of Britain
is covered, but all three volumes make for a good read.

John Terraine's "The Right of the Line", also covers the RAF
in all theatres during the war and is excellent. I particularly enjoyed his comments on
Winston Churchill throughout the book. The bibliography
in Terraine's book is excellent.

[gmot_ka]

A strory about the the squad with the most airkills during BOB:

A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II

by Lynne Olson, Stanley Cloud.

Great book. It tells not only the story of the most succsessfull squad during BOB but also a very sad story how the politics ruled the world. The polish pilots fought during the WW II along their british firends but due to politics they were not allowed to take part in the big victory parade in London 1946. Poland itself was sacrificed to Stalin. A sad story.

Can highly recommend that book.
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0 ... 98-0096832

sorry for my english.

[Pat_Pattle]

I couldn't agree more about the The Kosciuszko Squadron book, excellent read. Stephen Bungays book is next up on the pile next to the bed.

I've been collecting BoB books for a while, one recent discovery which is worth searching for is 'Battle of Britain' by Leonard Mosley which is actually about the making of the 1968 film and id thoroughly absorbing.

Pat

[Osram]

Pat, that very much depends on what you are interested in. I hoped for some description of arial scenes, but it is mostly about general film making issues, which is something I have no interest in. The best part of Mosley's book is the characterisation of Galland , but that is only a few pages all in all.

[Pat_Pattle]

Fair point Osram, as a book about BoB itself, it has little to offer but I think that it is such an important film that it's almost part of that history itself.

The scenes in it were pretty well researched and offer a better insight in some ways as to what it was like than many a stuffy book (and I've read a few of those! )

Pat

[Wulfmann]

http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/bobhome.html

and

http://www.battleofbritain.net/

are a couple of sights online.

The top one has dailey reporst, that may be a little dry but they were the reference to the CFS3 "Complete Battle of Briain " mission set which hopefully was made obsolete by BoBII.

Wulfmann

[musk]

While we're passing round the recommendations, I found Patrick Bishop's "Fighter Boys: The Battle of Britain, 1940" to be a wonderful history through the eyes of the pilots themselves. I really enjoy books of this type, that offer a personal element to history.

If you prefer the bigger picture, "Battle Over Britain" by Francis K. Mason was recommended by someone who frequents these lists (sorry, I forget who). It's as definitive a history as I've ever seen, winding it's way day-by-day through events and including info on the planes, insignia and similar subjects, including info on every single RAF flyer and all known Luftwaffe participants.

For a more approachable version with similar perspective, I've enjoyed "Battle of Britain" by Len Deighton and Max Hastings.

"The Most Dangerous Enemy" is on my "To Read" shelf, so I'm glad to see it favorably considered here. Oh, for more time in the day!